Epilogue
At some point along the way, the perplexities of everyone else’s logic resulted in my decision to give it a go for myself. Why bother? Well, with every rebreather unit dived, I was just bothered by various parts and pieces and bothered by the system - availability, customer service, training requirements, and so on - so it started to make sense to address my personal concerns for myself. Not having the engineering expertise specifically, I enlisted some help along the way, and so as my design/build projects evolved, as did my principles of design and this content.
With this body of work coming together on the heels of several US Federally funded programs, it only seemed logical that, like other research, the work be put in the public domain for all to benefit. From that perspective, this work is largely open sourced. The reader is benefitting from over twenty years of innovation which was the direct result of what I view as inefficiencies in US Federally funded diving and ocean exploration programs that failed to advance human intervention in the manner that I believe it should have been during that time. So, here it is - the table scraps of your tax dollars hard at work! Perhaps someday, diving itself will be important again.
Someday, in a dream world, diving and the technology itself will be viewed as the academic field of study that it should - there is both an art and science that requires additional research. From that research, the world will see tremendous advancements in planetary atmospheric management, renewable energies, and altered physiological states; all things that humanity will need to better understand as it has its eye set on Mars and beyond with any permanence. I can only speculate that this is the same clarity that Cousteau and other luminaries have viewed as the art and science of diving.
Being in the public domain, my hope is that this work will reach someone that can carry it forward because that is where progress awaits. Without any exaggeration, ‘500 [feet] for 5 [hours]’ will eventually be the next ‘60 for 60’. It’s there for the taking, as is so much more.
The Price of Progress
In the interim, of course, progress comes with a price. To help defray the cost of preparing this assemblage of self-directed and funded research, you are invited to support my group’s ongoing work by:
1. Partner with us. Our team is always seeking new partnerships to move undersea intervention forward. Contact me at michael@lombardiundersea.com with inquiries.
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2. Cross-promote sales of the hardware described in this content, and throughout this eStore. Distributor, reseller, and representative inquiries are always welcomed.
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3. Simply make a donation to our charity of choice, Ocean Opportunity Inc., at www.oceanopportunity.com. OO provides a platform to educate the community on our work in diving technology research and offers a mechanism for us to engage engineering students with ongoing research and development.